HAMBURG — Back on clay for the first time since losing the French Open final to Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem beat Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 7-6 (3) Tuesday to reach the second round of the Hamburg European Open.
The top-seeded Thiem broke Cuevas in the Uruguayan’s first service game of each set, but struggled to press his advantage before closing out the match in 1 hour, 42 minutes.
It was Thiem’s 250th career tour-level win and set up a second-round meeting with Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics. Thiem’s only previous match since the French Open final was a first-round loss to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon.
Second-seeded German Alexander Zverev pleased his home crowd with a 6-4, 6-2 over Nicolas Jarry, whom he also beat in the Geneva final in May. Next up for Zverev is Federico Delbonis.
Third-seeded Fabio Fognini dealt with qualifier Julian Lenz 6-4, 6-4, while fourth-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili beat qualifier Hugo Dellien 6-4, 6-3 in just over an hour, and will next face Juan Ignacio Londero.
The day’s surprise result came in an all-Serbian first-round match as fifth-seeded Laslo Djere was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by compatriot Filip Krajinovic.
Seventh-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff had 10 aces as he eased past Thiago Monteiro 6-1, 6-3.
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